{"id":161597,"date":"2026-02-03T07:40:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/161597\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T07:40:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T07:40:08","slug":"san-jose-sharks-ryan-warsofsky-wonders-if-pressure-is-affecting-his-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/161597\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks’ Ryan Warsofsky wonders if pressure is affecting his team"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHICAGO \u2013 The Sharks have been one of the NHL\u2019s most surprising and talked-about teams<\/a> so far this season. They\u2019ve had some rough spells, for sure, but it\u2019s largely been one feel-good moment<\/a> after another as they\u2019ve become playoff contenders<\/a> after two straight years of finishing in the league\u2019s basement.<\/p>\n

Now the Sharks are dealing with the other side of that coin: enhanced expectations and added pressure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is probably a new situation (being in a playoff race) for where we are right now,\u201d Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said, \u201cand I think it\u2019s kind of getting to us in a sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Sharks lost their third straight game<\/a> Monday as the Chicago Blackhawks capitalized on San Jose\u2019s dreadfully slow start and some sloppy defensive play to earn a 6-3 win<\/a> at the United Center.<\/p>\n

The Sharks managed just one shot on net in the first period, had taken four minor penalties by the four-minute mark of the second, and simply weren\u2019t physical enough as they trailed the Blackhawks 5-1 midway through the game.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s worked for the Sharks for most of the season \u2014 getting pucks behind the opposition\u2019s defensemen and using their forecheck \u2014 disappeared on Monday, and has largely been absent since the first period of their game against the Edmonton Oilers l<\/a>ast Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen our forecheck is going, it feels like all three zones are going well,\u201d Sharks defenseman Vincent Desharnais said, \u201cand it\u2019s been a couple of games now that forecheck is not going and or it\u2019s going 10 minutes out of 60.\u201d<\/p>\n

Warsofsky promised lineup changes for Wednesday\u2019s game against the Colorado Avalanche, and there\u2019s a chance Kiefer Sherwood will be available.<\/a><\/p>\n

But one person will not be a panacea.<\/p>\n

Against Chicago, the Sharks allowed three second-period goals in a span of 8:22 to fall behind 4-0.<\/p>\n

Desharnais was not as physical as he needed to be on Ryan Donato\u2019s goal at the 9:35 mark of the second period, as Donato toe-dragged in front of the Sharks defenseman before he snapped a shot past Yaroslav Askarov.<\/p>\n

On a calamitous fourth goal, Shakir Mukhamadullin\u2019s pass back to Dmitry Orlov in the Sharks\u2019 zone instead went right to Ilya Mikheyev. The Blackhawks winger then had all day before he found a wide-open Sam Rinzel, who entered the zone and one-timed a shot past Askarov at the 10:36 mark of the second.<\/p>\n

That was it for Askarov, who didn\u2019t have the best defensive support as he allowed four goals on 10 shots. Still in his first full NHL season, Askarov has now won just one of his last six starts.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust felt like he probably couldn\u2019t get into the game with some saves early,\u201d Warsofsky said of Askarov. \u201cHe\u2019s a guy that kind of feeds off of feel, and he didn\u2019t really get tested much there in the first. But they scored one (on Connor Bedard\u2019s first-period goal) and then in the second, it was bang, bang.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need our goalies. We need Askarov to get better. We need our players to get better.\u201d<\/p>\n

After that collapse against the Oilers, in which they held a three-goal lead before losing 4-3 in overtime, the Sharks, two days later, looked mostly flat in a 3-2 loss<\/a> to the Calgary Flames.<\/p>\n

The Sharks began their road trip in a playoff position as they held the Western Conference\u2019s second wild card spot. Now in 10th place in the west with 58 points, they\u2019re three points back of the Anaheim Ducks for the final playoff spot.<\/p>\n

The Sharks have a handful of players who have never been to the playoffs before or even been in a race down the stretch. As they\u2019re quickly discovering, the intensity is being ramped up.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt obviously is frustrating,\u201d Sharks winger Tyler Toffoli said. \u201cI think we had an opportunity to get two points, and not sure if we weren\u2019t ready. But it\u2019s disappointing. Every point matters and we feel like we let the last two games kind of slip away.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did that bitter loss to the Oilers have a lasting impact and affect the Sharks\u2019 confidence?<\/p>\n

Depends on who you ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt probably has, to be honest with you, which is unfortunate,\u201d Warsofsky said. \u201cBut we\u2019re getting punched in the mouth and in the gut right now, and we\u2019ve got to move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it sort of seems like that, but that\u2019s not the feeling in the locker room,\u201d Toffoli said when asked about the loss in Edmonton. \u201cWe haven\u2019t talked about it, to be honest. I think we\u2019ve done a good job of moving on every day after every game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Calgary game was disappointing. We had a chance to steal at least one point there and didn\u2019t do it, and today just wasn\u2019t our best effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now to avoid going into the Olympic break on a four-game skid, all the Sharks have to do is beat the Colorado Avalanche, the NHL\u2019s best team, on Wednesday in Denver.<\/p>\n

With the Sharks\u2019 losses to the non-playoff contending Flames and Blackhawks, that game against the Avalanche has taken on extra significance.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re going into hardest building in the league against the best team in the league,\u201d said Sharks center Macklin Celebrini, who had a goal and assist.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHICAGO \u2013 The Sharks have been one of the NHL\u2019s most surprising and talked-about teams so far this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":161598,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,7,401,402,181,404,88,90,89,98,198,403,200,127],"class_list":{"0":"post-161597","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-hockey","11":"tag-inside-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-nhl","14":"tag-san-jose","15":"tag-san-jose-headlines","16":"tag-san-jose-news","17":"tag-san-jose-sharks","18":"tag-santa-clara-county","19":"tag-sharks-alert","20":"tag-south-bay","21":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161597","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161597"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161597\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161597"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161597"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161597"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}